Throughout the world and particularly in North America the number of motor vehicles increases significantly each year so that the consumption of motor vehicle fuel is continuously rising. Consequently, the need for more outlets for dispensing motor vehicle fuel also increases. However, the outlets or gas stations tend to be concentrated in populated, high traffic, areas and sometimes are not easy to access in such areas because of the position of the station's driveway entrance located on one-way streets, and difficulties in exiting from higher speed highways.
One way of providing more gas stations has been to switch to self-service stations that are most often associated with convenience stores. The convenience store attendant or checkout person has to continuously watch the pumps while attending to the cash register. Because of the risk of armed robbery and because of inconvenient hours, it is difficult to get qualified people to work at such stations. Accordingly, it is one object of the present invention to provide unattended gasoline refueling stations at supermarket parking lots, shopping centers, interstate rest stops, and other locations where space limitation would not permit a conventional filling station or convenience store.
In the past, even though payment for gasoline has been available by credit card or direct insertion of cash at a gas pump so equipped; development of a completely unattended station has been limited because of local fire codes and fear of vandalism. For example, according to Section 30A the “Motor Fuel Dispensing Facilities and Repair Garage Code” of the Natural Fire Protection Association (NFPA) of Quincy, Mass., one exception to the “no unattended station” rule is to only allow refueling at unattended locations where the vehicle and the gas pumps “are under common control or ownership.” This allows a charter bus at a garage owned by the bus company to be refueled from an unattended pump, for example. In a later NFPA revision, namely, review 9A in Section 30A NFPA has made design recommendations for unattended stations but has ultimately left the decision up to local fire marshals. Accordingly, it is another object of the present invention to provide a method for dispensing gasoline at unattended locations by minimizing the opportunities for vandalism and theft and to provide a method which would be in compliance with fire codes and are acceptable to fire departments in most vicinities.
Another exception to the no unattended station rule is where key and card lock dispensing devices are used. Thus, another object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus that will meet with both exceptions so that unattended pumps will be accepted in most localities and the public will have a means for safe unattended gasoline refueling protected by both fire detection technology and by the local fire protection company.
In the past, a number of detectors and devices have been developed to make it safer to dispense gasoline at self-service installations. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,237,647 B1 which issued to William Pung, et al. on May 29, 2001 discloses an automatic refueling station where an automobile is provided with an onboard database that communicates with the gas station when the automobile arrives so the station computer can compute all the data needed to refuel the automobile including opening the gas tank and dispensing the fuel. However, this system is totally computer driven and there is no human surveillance save that of the vehicle operator. It is, however, an object of the present invention not to remove human surveillance totally from dispensing of the fuel but to provide continuous surveillance from a remote location by trained personnel.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,222,458 B1, which issued on Apr. 24, 2001 to Scott C. Harris a method is described for preventing a fire or explosion caused by a cellular phone used while pumping gasoline.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,992,395 which issued on Nov. 30, 1999 to Hal Hartsell, Jr. et al. a vapor recovery system at a gas pump becomes operable if the vapor recovery system of the vehicle being refueled is not working or if the vehicle does not have one.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,520 which issued to William S. Johnson, Jr. on Apr. 6, 1999 a method of detecting drive offs is described. Another safety device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,851,108 that issued to Mark Clymer on Dec. 22, 1998 and which discloses an impact sensor system for a gas pump.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,634,503 that issued on Jun. 3, 1997 to David I. Musil, et al. a method of automatically positioning the refueling nozzle close to a vehicle at a gas station by moving the gas pump nozzle on a track overhead is disclosed. In addition, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,608,154, which issued on Mar. 4, 1997 to Nabuhide Kato a carbon monoxide detector is described. Further, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,343,906 which issued on Sep. 6, 1994 to Harry F. Tibbals a method of checking emissions from a vehicle while it is being refueled is disclosed and the sensors also check for carbon monoxide. In another patent, namely, U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,748 which issued on Feb. 20, 1990 to Albert Shotmeyer a filling station structure having an overhead canopy for covering a vehicle at a refueling station is disclosed which contains smoke detectors that automatically call the fire department in the event of fire or smoke.
In the foregoing patents some of the detectors and prior art devices for keeping dispensing of gasoline safer are disclosed, particularly, for self-service dispensing of gasoline. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to make use of prior art detection devices and surveillance cameras to provide a safe and acceptable method of dispensing gasoline at locations which are unattended. The achievement of these objects will be more fully understood with reference to the summary of the invention and detailed description that follow.